I'd say my interest was at a high in 1998, and again in 2002 just after the Olympics (that's when I first found and registered on the boards). It went down somewhat after 2003, but still got thrills out of 2004 and 2005 Nationals/Worlds. In 2006 my interest wasn't quite at the heights it was in '02 (not sure why...maybe because the coverage wasn't live). Then, it's been on a downhill ride from there...no American ladies in contention...this says it all- it's an Olympic season and the height of it for me will actually be Spokane, not Vancouver...

Perhaps Sochi will be better.

No offense, but this is one of worst posts I've read here. I didn't know figure skating was exclusively an American sport. What a poor attitude.

Therein lies the problem. Does figure skating have to be an exercise in nationalism? Can't you sit back and relish watching one of the best female skaters of all time? Whether she is American or not is immaterial.

In fact, if you can't get excited about a sport unless someone from the US is doing well, you're not really a figure skating fan. You're a fan of the US, and figure skating is just the vehicle for expressing your nationalism.

There's more to it than that. I mean, for instance we have a male world champ but that won't make me pay attention to men's skating any time soon. I like ladies' skating IN GENERAL- but I simply like to support my fellow Americans. No harm in that (I think??)

The bigger issue goes waaaaay beyond nationalities. It's that there's no skater that I TRULY just HAVE to see. Most performances are very similar (thanks to the Cop) so there's not too much variety and thus less excitement in general for me. So I think this, coupled with the sudden lack of US contenders, has made me a little more US-focused than usual, to be quite honest.